Jesus in Writings and Paintings.
Jesus as an Inspirational Figure in the Renaissance
Christianity and Jesus have always been central to the development of culture in Europe throughout its history. That does not, however, mean that people’s conception of them both remained static – a fact which has arguably led to some of the greatest artistic and intellectual outpourings the world has ever seen. While the Renaissance is famous for its intellectual outpourings (with Da Vinci being just one of the people famous for this), it is equally famous for its paintings and sculptural works. The ubiquity of religious iconography in both artistic and intellectual endeavours of this time has two possible meanings – one, the cultural saturation of religious belief has meant that all work necessarily involves said beliefs, even if unconsciously; and two, religious beliefs cropping up in both intellectual and artistic forms functioned almost as a type of propaganda for the Church and the ideals it was trying to convey to people at the time.
It is important to remember that, for much of human history, literacy was not so widespread as it is in the West today. Education was very much the province of the upper classes, and of those who could afford it: the visual arts, therefore, were not simply a medium of expression, but also a means of communication.
In late medieval and Renaissance Italy, theologians continually emphasized the humanity of Christ and the need for the faithful to lead lives modelled [sic] on Christ’s own. This perspective welcomed visual images that stressed his human existence and particularly favored themes related to his earthly birth and death. (Sorabella, “Painting the Life of Christ”)
As Sorabella goes on to say, the paintings and sculptural works of the time were a mix of what the Church wanted to convey, and what the artists themselves wanted to convey. As such, works of art could function as a sounding board of culture: they disseminated the ideals of the time into the world around them, and the reaction to them showed how that particular cultural ideal was being accepted. The focus on the humanity of Jesus meant that artists, within the confines of the patronage system which most artists depended on to survive and have their work seen, drew upon biblical narratives of the birth and death of Jesus, his sermons and parables, instead of the focus on his miracles that had been ordained by the culture in medieval times. In a culture which was as religious as that of Renaissance, artists filled a valuable niche in encouraging the general population to adopt the themes and lessons that the Church wished them to have. Thus, since the Renaissance Church wanted to teach its people to relate to Jesus as a human first, rather than as a purely Divine figure (perhaps in an attempt to help their flocks act in a more Christ-like manner by bringing Him closer to them in nature?), artistry shifted to portray Christ as a human, doing human things like living and dying.
The intellectual side of Renaissance functioned differently from the visual material culture side, for various reasons. As mentioned above, schooling and literacy was reserved for those who could afford it, and so the complicated system of patronage which governed the artistic world was somewhat less stringent, though it did still exist. The Renaissance saw the revival of Platonic ideals (as opposed to the focus of Aristotelian philosophy which had come before) as a means of understanding Christianity, the works of Erasmus, the idea of the Bible being something which should no longer be purely the province of those in theological vocations, and many more. Of course, this is not to say that the two fields were entirely separate: no, they were both affected, to a greater or lesser degree, by the Church teachings of Jesus’ humanity – it was simply that the two fields could diverge more significantly due to the factors already discussed above. The works of Erasmus in particular focused on pacifism, free will, and civility among men – all themes which Jesus himself focused on when teaching his Apostles and the people at large, at the last when he was having his last meal with them (Fieser & Powers, 336). This focus on the humanity of Christ allowed Erasmus, and others like him, to raise questions about the actions of Christ, as a means of extrapolating whether the same was true of all followers of the Church – what is free will? Did Christ have it, if he was an extension of God? Was his free will in the execution of his duties, or in the acceptance of them?
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? (New International Version, John 14: 1-2)
This seems to be in direct contradiction to the words of Jesus in Matthew (5: 20), where he indicated that no one was guaranteed to be in Heaven when they died, but the concept of free will, at least according to Erasmus, and the concept that both the Apostles and Jesus himself could wield that will, suggests that it entry into Heaven is indeed dependent on actions, rather than upon pure faith alone.
The religious culture of Renaissance Europe guaranteed that Jesus Christ would be seen as an inspiration; as something to strive towards. The Church was the ultimate referee in deciding how Jesus was to be seen and conveyed; however, both artists and intellectuals filled their own separate niches in the manner in which that was to be done. Artists of varying stripes gave the people of Renaissance Europe pictures and sculptures to look at and admire, while also surpassing the literacy barrier in order to disseminate the dominant worldview of Christ: in a time of the Church wanting to emphasize His humanity, this took the form of pictures and sculptures which detailed His birth and Death, as well as focusing more on the teaching and sermonising aspects of His work than the miracles which had been a favourite of the Medieval Church. The literary world also focused on these themes, but were able to take a more philosophical approach to the themes of Christ’s humanity, emphasizing his pacifism and questions surrounding the possibility of free will rather than simply addressing the fact of his existence as a man.
Works Cited
Fieser, James, and John Powers. Scriptures of the World’s Religions. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998. Print
New International Version. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2011. Print.
Sorabella, Jean. “Painting the Life of Christ in Medieval and Renaissance Italy” Timeline of Art History. The Met. June, 2008. Web. 2 August 2016.
